—peace and blessings be upon him—went out on the day of Eid al-Fitr and prayed two units. He did not pray before or after them, and Bilāl was with him.” The hadith continues.
Thus, he gave the chapter on Eid prayer a heading similar to that of the chapter on Friday prayer, and cited a hadith concerning Eid prayer indicating that prayer is not prescribed (1) before or after it. This indicates that he intended the same regarding Friday prayer.
Some have supposed that, since Friday prayer replaces the noon prayer, and the hadith mentions the sunnah prayers before and after the noon prayer, it follows that Friday prayer is likewise. In their view, his statement, “He would not pray after Friday prayer until he had left,” merely explains when the sunnah prayer following Friday prayer was performed: after leaving. This supposition is mistaken, because al-Bukhārī cited the hadith of Ibn ‘Umar (2) in the chapter on voluntary prayer after the obligatory prayer: “I prayed with the Prophet (3), peace and blessings be upon him, two units before the noon prayer, two after the noon prayer, two after the sunset prayer, two after the night prayer, and two after Friday prayer.” This clearly shows that the Companions regarded Friday prayer as a distinct prayer in its own right, separate from the noon prayer. Otherwise, there would have been no need to mention it, since it would have been included under the designation of the noon prayer. Since he mentioned no sunnah prayer associated with it except after it, it is understood that it has no sunnah prayer before it.
Others cite as evidence what Ibn Mājah narrated in his Sunan (4) from Abū Hurayrah and Jābir